Everyone's talking about commercial egg layers' living conditions...

[nonseq]

The Columbus Dispatch had an article about this issue in last Sunday's paper. http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/insight/stories/2010/08/15/big-farms-yield-to-new-era.html

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

I am glad more and more people are drawing attention to the situations and conditions factory farming is putting these animals in. Look up factory farming and such on youtube and its depressing, gory, and just horrible. I believe while the big wigs will raise their prices to meet the reform requirements it is also drawing the unwanted attention of the masses onto their operations and people who nowadays are health fanatics and naturalists are going to start re-evaluating even harder where their produce, meats, and eggs come from. I see by 2020 we'll have a huge explosion of backyard chickens, more people buying and raising their own chickens, and livestock for foods. How else do you know the truth about your food unless you feed it yourself? I mean really! I know of many people around my parts that put in an investment into a cow each year and when it goes to butcher they get their 25-50% of the butchered meat they invested in without having to take care of the animal themselves but knowing the animal was pasture raised. This support LOCAL agriculture and businesses

which is what needs to be supported so badly right now.

 

[Whispering Winds]

There is a hatchery south of where I am located, been there for years on end, and they had one of the top egg sellers in the country as their customer. There are certain jobs that the employees CANNOT do, they have to be outsourced and an inspector came in there a couple of months ago and caught the employees doing these jobs and they got in big time trouble and lost their contract to the big egg company . . . so layoffs were coming left and right and I haven't talked to my friend lately to ask her what her dad had said about it, as he was one of the to get his hours cut way back. Sad . . .I get goosebumps when I see those semis on the interstate with the wire cages on them. I just HATE Thanksgiving time, a few weeks before, because I see thousands of turkeys being shipped this way. So sad and just plain evil.

 

[theOEGBman]

On the contrary, what people dont realize is that in order to produce enough eggs to feed everyone out there, you have to have a limit of space. Many people dont want to raise poultry for their own eggs... my parents would never do it if it wasnt for me. Of course I'd like all layer operations to have larger cages, but if you are hoping to raise enough eggs to make a profit and to feed the billions of people in the world, you cant have 6 ft X 6 ft pens for each hen, there is simply not enough room. With the encroachment of people on the land here in CA, you only have so much space to produce what you do. I live in Ag country, and year by year we lose more and more. The funny thing is, a large large percent of the people who voted for Prop. 2 come from our two large cities, San Francisco and Los Angeles where many of the people there only see a chicken when its packaged in the grocery store. Not all of course, because I know many of our BYC'ers here are from those areas.

I believe what JS West did was rather interesting. They're a well known name around here, and their feed store is my main place to buy my livestock supplies. I believe they intended to show that if changes are needed/asked of them, they are fully capable of doing them.

I could go on for a while about this but I guess the main point is that I do support the Poultry Industry, and all Ag Industries out there.

I would please ask that you do not mar this thread, though, because the original poster was not looking for that, Im sure. So if you have any comments or questions, I am happy to answer any of them in a PM. Please write it in a positive/friendly manner though. Im sick of getting little activist brats who think they can yell at me through the computer.

 

[Lynette]

After seeing how those chickens are cramped in those cages, I will never buy eggs from the store again. It is sad that they live that way.

 

[jaimslee4u]

does someone want to take this guy and just shake him!! my hens are probably smarter than him any day, & hello running in there own feces - clean them you dummy!
& they probably pile on top of each other because the only thing they ever see behind the bars of thier cages is other chickens. It should be an eye opener to expose them to a different environment.

 

[PineappleMama]

So, the Stromberg's catalog came... flipping through... and get to the Stacking Cages...
They are 36"x18"x18" with a divider to make two 18"x18"x18" cages...

I asked DH... what's 3x1.5 (didn't say why I was asking) as I was having a major brainfart... he was too... eventually we figured out 4.5 square feet... and I looked at him and said "Would YOU put 2-3 chickens in that?"

And he let out a great big "What the ___?!?! No!!!"

And that's without the divider... they say 2-3 PER divided 18"x18" (2.25sf) area.

He was downright shocked... he likes the birds well enough, mostly he likes the eggs. Meaning, he's not all "Ohhh look at their little cute selves" like me and DD (and other BYC Chickie Moms)... but even he thinks that that is just beyond warped. Just based on the size, number, and mess...

So... yeah... if someone who's mostly oblivious can see that I don't know how the animal lovers (that cause such a huge fuss for OTHER creatures that humans hardly see) and whatnot can't.

 

[teach1rusl]

Fact of the matter is, for most of the egg industry folks, the chickens (and their eggs) are just a product, no different than a Catsup bottle. If you got a person in to run the company who viewed chickens as living creatures, they could have a company that believes in humane practices for these animals, but those eggs would be much more costly (due to less chickens per space, slightly more natural enviroment, not as quick of turn-around time in egg production). Would enough people buy those more costly eggs??? Obviously not at this point, or else you'd see a LOT more of that kind of egg being offered in grocery stores. We're a "want it now and want it cheap" nation of people, and most put blinders on and don't want to see what goes on behind the scenes as long as we get our product (I've certainly been guilty of it). As others have said, hopefully every new news article will wake people up just a little bit more about the situation...

 

[Kim_NC]

I read somewhere, sometime back, that the allotted space in a battery operation is the equivalent of 1 sheet of 8"x11" paper per hen. That may not be exact, but the point is those poor birds do not have anything remotely close to adequate living space. And many of the so called 'cage free' operations are not better. They have similar space allotments - just all birds cramped on a floor together.

 

[PineappleMama]

You know, the part I don't get. Even if you aren't a bird lover, animal lover, etc. If you don't even LOOK at the "humane" aspect of the small cages... totally ignore feelings, quality of life, etc.

Just Look At Sanitation!!

That's what blows my mind... just for sanitation's sake we don't cram humans into too small a space... just breeds bacteria, spreads viruses... just the SMELL gives that away... that's just to prevent the 'creature' in the cage getting sick. Because a sick critter is a drain even more so than a healthy one right?

But we don't eat those 'critters'... or anything that comes out their rear ends. I do NOT understand, at all, why people are so shocked that in a system that crams producers together... where they're on top of each other... forced to live in their own poo... WHY are you surprised that anything NEAR their rears is contaminated?

Boggles my mind. You don't even have to care about the animal's health/well being... just care about yourself... ought to be easy enough...